Emmons hamlin



E. HAMLIN. REED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

No. 14,955.v Patented May 27, 1856.

n: uomus PETERS co. mamurnm wumuwou n c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMMONS HAMLIN, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MASON & HAMLIN, OFSAME PLACE.

REED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,955, dated May 27, 1856.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EMMONS HAMLIN, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in I-Iarmoniums and other SimilarReed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, makingpart of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a vertical sectionthrough an instrument with my improvements attached. Fig. 2, detailswhich will be referred to hereafter.

In instruments of this description as at present generally constructed,the air is ex- .hausted by means of bellows from an ex panding orelastic wind chest immediately beneath the reeds, by which means thelatter are prevented from being affected by the motion of the bellowswhich may otherwise produce unpleasant pulsations in the notes. In musichowever when a swell or increased volume of tone is required uponparticular notes as in crescendo passages, it becomes desirable. toproduce this effect by the increased action of the pedal upon thebellows. here however the expanding wind chest is employed, this effectcannot be thus produced, and in order that the advantages of the two maybe united I have originated the first part of my present invention whichconsists in the use of a tight rigid or nonelastic wind chest, which maybe brought at pleasure by the pedal, stop, or otherwise intocommunication with a secondary expanding wind chest, whereby the primarychest is rendered elastic, and the advantages of the two are united inone instrument. The second part of my invention consists in a new andsimple method of coupling the notes of two key boards together, whichmay be operated entirely without friction, is less complicated than thecouplers heretofore employed, and is not liable to the objections towhich they are open.

To enable others skilled in the art to un derstand my invention, I willproceed to describe the method which I have adopted of carrying it out.

In the accompanying drawings, A, is the exhaust bellows, whichcommunicate by means of the vertical passage 13, with the nonelasticwind chest O, the top of which constitutes the tube or reed board D. In

this board are four reeds for each note, two of them a, a, beingoperated by the key E, of the lower set, the other two 6, Z), by the keyF, of the upper set. Immediately beneath the wind chest O, is theexpanding chest G, which communicates with the former through the valveH. hen this valve is closed the wind chest is entirely nonelastic, andthe notes feel every pulsation of the bellows. The instrument is thencapable of the most delicate crescendo ef fects, which may be producedby increased pressure of the bellows. lVhen the valve H, is open thewind chest is rendered elastic, and the notes are not affected by theaction of the bellows. The opening of the valve II, is eflected by thepressure upon the rod I, at the point C, which may be applied by meansof a pedal or an ordinary stop.

The notes a, a, are opened by the descent of the valve K, which isoperated by the key E, and rod M. The notes 6, b, are opened by thedescent of the valve L, which is operated by the key F, the push downrod N, from beneath it, resting upon the lever O, which in turn restsupon the rod P, the latter in its descent opening the valve. The key F,at all times opens only the notes Z), Z), The key E, always operates thenotes a, a, and it remains now to show the manner in which the notes areso coupled together that the four may be operated by the key E. For thispurpose I make use of the following device, S is a block which slides insuitable grooves, and is connected by means of the joint links (Z, (Z,to a bar f, which runs lengthwise through the instrument.

R is a tongue which is hinged at g, to the block S, and is interposedwhen it becomes necessary to couple the two sets of reeds togetherbetween the key E, and the lever O, by which means as the key isdepressed the lever O, is forced down, and the valve L, of the notes Z),Z), is opened. lVhen the coupler is drawn back as seen in red in Fig. 2,the tongue R, slides down the incline plane 3 upon the lever O, which isthen not affected by the descent of the key E. In place of the inclineupon the end of the lever O, an incline notch may be made in the underside of the key E, which shall receive the end of the tongue B, when itis drawn back and the key E will be equally uncoupled from the notes Z),Z). This method is obviously but a modification of the plan aboverepresented and need not therefore be further described. Each note hasits conler similar to the one above described and attached to the onebar running through the instrument by Which they are all simultaneouslyoperated.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a rigid or nonelastic Wind chest, with theordinary eX- panding Wind chest connected together and

